Body of Fourteen-Year-Old Boy Recovered from Presumpscot River

The body was recovered Friday morning at 9:20 am in the Presumpscot River near Allen Avenue Bridge in Falmouth.

The body of fourteen-year-old, Mohammed Al Ammar of Portland was found after a search led by the Maine Marine Patrol began yesterday at approximately 6:50 p.m. involving members of the Falmouth Police and Fire Departments, the Maine Warden Service and the State Police/Marine Patrol dive Team, said Jeff Nichols, Maine Department of Marine Resources.

According to eye witness reports Ammar, who was not wearing a life jacket, was paddling a kayak in the Presumpscot River above the Allen Avenue Bridge Thursday when his kayak capsized at approximately 6:30 p.m. Another boy with him in the tandem kayak was wearing a life jacket and made it to shore.

The search continued Thursday evening until 11 p.m. and resumed this morning with a shoreline search starting at approximately 4:30 a.m. Dive team members assisted by the Maine Warden Service using a remotely operated submersible camera resumed the search at approximately 8 a.m. and located his body in 16 feet of water near the bridge, Nichols said.

“Our deepest condolences go out to the friends and family of Mohammed,” said Marine Patrol Colonel Jon Cornish. “Events like this are tragic reminders of the importance of wearing a life jacket on Maine’s coastal and inland water ways.”